Eleven
Remnants Of The Heart
banner by zeyniiDara
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He took her hand and Dara held onto his like her life depended on it. Well, her life depended on him right now. Then, he pulled her behind him and ordered her in an urgent voice to hold on to his shirt. She did as what she was told and closed her eyes when she felt Jiyong started moving. As much as she wanted to stop herself from screaming from hearing the loud exchange of bullets, she can’t help it. She felt Jiyong flinched twice and she wondered what could have caused it. She knew it wasn’t the right time to ask and even if she did have the guts to ask, she wouldn’t have done it as he screamed, “Run!” to her.
Her fingers, which felt stiff, let go of his shirt. And she ran, she ran as fast as she could just like what Jiyong ordered her to do so without glancing back. She hugged the bag she’s carrying tightly to her chest, somehow anticipating that a bullet will hit a certain part of her body. But nothing happened at all until she eventually ran far enough that she could no longer hear any violent sounds cause by the exchange of bullets.
She stopped and tried to catch her breath. She knew she should not stop as there’s this possibility that those bad guys are now after her. But she can’t fully understand as well as to why she’s hesitating to continue.
“Oh, screw it!” she hissed to herself. She perfectly knew why she’s hesitating. The thing that she can’t understand really is the reason behind it. She was worried for Jiyong and she can’t understand why after all the mean things he did to her, she was worried about him!
“Screw you, Sandara Park!” she scolded herself. “This is exactly the reason why you always end up being bullied by that person!”
She bit her lower lip then shook her head. No, don’t be distracted. You have to go.
She took a deep breath then started running again. She wasn’t that far yet from where she stopped when that odd feeling came to her. It’s as if someone’s watching her. She stopped and looked around but saw no one. She shook her head again. Her imagination’s running wild again. Five minutes later, she started feeling it again but this time, she didn’t bother looking back as she ran even faster. The feeling got stronger and stronger until she heard a twig snapped in two that made her panic. She hugged the bag tighter to her chest and casted her eyes down. Unable to stop herself, she looked back when the ground suddenly collapsed.
Just as the scream was to escape and she felt herself falling, a set of arms locked her in place. The familiarity of the person hit her so hard that she didn’t bother looking up at the person’s face. She wrapped her arms around his neck and cried. “Jiyong!” she half-whined and half-cried.
“What a crybaby,” she heard him snort but there was something wrong in his voice – it sounded strained. Hearing him bullying her again should have made her annoyed again but the strangeness in his voice took over her annoyance.
She pulled away and in that instant, her eyes went wide upon fully seeing him. “You’re wounded!” she freaked out.
His shirt were stained at both shoulders and it was slowly staining the rest of his shirt and she could see that he was trying to support himself through one leg only as the other one seemed injured as well.
She started panicking that she started jumping up and down and her feet while biting her fingernails. “What should we do? What should we do?”
“You’ve gone too far east,” he said. “What you can do right now is carry me up until we reach the –”
“What?!” she shrieked.
He rolled his eyes. “Fine, support me then.”
Dara nodded at once and went to wear the backpack in front of her. She took one of Jiyong’s arm and placed it on her shoulders when he suddenly swayed sideways, causing her to lose her balance. She then felt his lips on hers, which she was obviously done by purpose as she fell sideways so if it was an accident, his lips should only have touched her cheek. Nevertheless, she felt her eyes closed for a moment before opening again.
“Oops,” he said and she could just hear the grin in his voice. “My bad.”
She wanted to argue with him but upon seeing his blood-stained shirt again, her concern overtook her annoyance. She stood up and helped him up again without commenting on what he did.
Later on, she could tell that Jiyong was trying not to lean all of his weight on hers which made her feel both relieved and confused. Relieved because she wasn’t sure if she can carry him all the way through and confused because she still can’t wrap her head around the thought of Jiyong being considerate of how or what she feels.
“What happened to them?” she asked, panting.
“Dead,” he simply answered. He sounded even bored. “Let’s stop for a while.”
“You’re joking!” she exclaimed. “You’re bleeding and you want to stop for a while? We should be heading to a hospital right now!”
“Well, you’re breathing heavily than me when you’re not even injured!”
“So what if I’m breathing heavily?”
“Well, that’s –” he started but stopped, as if catching himself.
She looked at him with narrowed eyes. “You’re worried,” she whispered more of in surprise and disbelief.
He mumbled something incoherent and gave her a murderous glare afterwards. “Keep on walking then,” he snapped.
She glared at his rudeness but went on to support him anyways. She noticed that as minutes passed, he was getting heavier and heavier so when she tried to look at his face, she almost fainted seeing how pale he was, even his bruises seem to have paled. But it upset her more seeing his eyes were closed. “Ya!” she snapped. “Don’t you dare sleep on me!”
No answer.
“KWON JIYONG!!!”
“Mm…?” he mumbled so quietly that it started stinging her eyes.
She stopped for a while and tapped his cheek with her free hand. “Hey, look at me!”
His eyes fluttered open, but not fully. “Mm?”
“There you go,” she whispered. “Don’t close your eyes.”
“’Kay,” he answered but closed his eyes anyway.
Dara was sweating hard already by the time she was freed from the trees. She almost shouted from relief upon seeing the road but she knew she can’t waste a second so she assisted Jiyong to lie down at the side. “Oh my gosh, where are we?”
She heard Jiyong mumbled something but it was too weak that she had to lean her ear to his lips to hear what he’s saying. He told her where they were and gave her a quick kiss on the cheek that made her scowl at him. She took the mobile phone from the bag and dialed the emergency number. After telling the agent her location and the need to send an ambulance, she hung up and went to hold Jiyong’s cold and clammy hands. To her surprise, Jiyong chuckled ever so softly.
“What’s funny?” she asked.
“You. . .” he whispered.
“How could you still be so mean to me through this state?” she demanded.
“Me. . .” he hoarsely said.
“You need to stop talking,” she said. “Just save your strength until help arrives.”
She glanced down at him and decided to pull his head up and let it rest on her lap. With his eyes still closed, she saw him smirked, arrogantly smirked, that is. “Jerk,” she whispered but she didn’t have it in her to be seriously annoyed, especially with his current state.
His hand lifted and it made her frown. At first, she thought she was going to talk to her in sign language but to her surprise and annoyance, his hand landed on her !
“KYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKK!!!!”
When the ambulance arrived, the medics saw an almost dead Kwon Jiyong and a fuming volcano-like Sandara Park.
Dara could not get over her annoyance. They reached the hospital with her annoyance about to explode. When she was asked to fill up a form, she heard Jiyong said, “My wife. . .”
“Please take care of my husband but make sure to cut his balls and hands off so it won’t go wandering around!”
She kept on mumbling offensive words against Jiyong to herself as she completed the form, faking her age and name as the nurse was eyeing her as if she’s trying to remember something. She gave it to the nurse afterwards, looking and feeling very grumpy. She marched towards the lobby when she saw familiar faces from afar. “Teddy!” she called out.
Teddy, CL and Seungri all looked up at her. She ran to them and hugged them individually. “What are you doing here?” they all asked together.
Dara answered, “Accompanying someone” the same time the other three chorused, “Visiting Seunghyun.”
Dara’s eyes widened. “Seunghyun’s here?”
“Yes,” Teddy answered. “He called us and we arrived just in time to bring him here. What happened by the way? he said you were taken and you –”
“I escaped,” she said. “Someone helped me and that person is wounded right now for helping me so I’m here.”
“Who –?”
“What –?”
Dara shook her head. “It’s a long story,” she said. “Where is he? I want to see him?”
“He’s in room 407,” Seungri said. “We’re just about to –”
“We’re just about to go to get something to eat,” CL said. “Right, Teddy?”
“Oh yeah,” Teddy nodded.
“No!” Seungri frowned. “You said we’re going to talk to –”
“No Seungri, we’re going to get something to eat. We’ll also get some fruits for Seunghyun.”
“Do you want anything, Dara?” Teddy asked.
“A sandwich would be nice,” she answered.
“And a shower,” CL said.
“Yeah, that too!” she laughed.
“You can take a shower in Seunghyun’s room. He also got spare clothes there.”
“But –” Seungri started again but CL already started dragging him away.
“See you later, Dara,” Teddy waved.
Without wasting another minute, she went to room 407. When she was in front of the door, she suddenly felt conscious of how she smells and how she looks. She ran her hands through her messy hair and tried to straighten up her clothes. She took a deep breath before reaching for the knob and stepping in.
Her heart pounded uneasily inside her chest that for a moment, she thought Seunghyun was going to hear it. She held her breath upon seeing his face. Her heart instantly melted. He was just so handsome that it hurts sometimes. With her feet almost tripping at each other, she ran to the side of the bed and reached out for his face. “Seunghyun?”
He didn’t respond. It seemed that he was fast asleep. She wanted to hug him so bad; she wanted to kiss him so bad; she wanted to see his eyes so bad but she knew she has to make him rest. Maybe it was a good thing as well so she can freshen up herself first. The others were right, there was a shower room. She wondered how they got this room for him when she perfectly knew they were a bit short when it comes to money, even Seunghyun’s adopted mother. Nevertheless, she can ask him later on. She felt really awkward already with being dirty. She just hoped there’s a spare brush as well so she can brush her teeth.
As she went through the room to look for spare clothes to wear, she was able to find a girl’s clothes as well. She could hazard a guess they were CL’s. She silently thanked CL for bringing spare clothes. As much as she would love to wear Seunghyun’s shirt, she can’t really wear his pants, it’ll only fall off and it would look awkward on her. when she went to shower, she was able to get a good look at herself and she almost died seeing her reflection in the mirror. She can barely recognize herself. her face was all covered with dirt, her hair’s a mess – everything’s a mess. She wondered how Teddy and the others were able to recognize her.
She leisurely took her time in showering and lucky her; there were two spare brushes in the sink – both of them still sealed. She could just tell it was for promotional purposes but nevertheless, a brush is a brush. She felt good afterwards. When she stepped into Seunghyun’s room again, she was surprised to see that he was already awake, sitting in his bed.
They stared at each other. Seunghyun’s eyes did it for him. She ran towards him with a sob and hugged him. He readily welcomed her in his arms although he looked a bit surprised. “Dara?” he whispered in surprise.
“Seunghyun oppa!” she cried. “I’m so sorry! I’m sorry I left you just like that! I should have –”
“Shush,” he said. “You didn’t leave me, Jiyong took you away. What happened by the way? Did he hurt you in any way? What are you doing here? How did you manage to escape from –?”
“It’s a long story but to make it short, Jiyong. . . he. . . took me, yes but for some weird reason, he can’t kill me. Then. . . Minwoo came just to check if Jiyong has done what he had to do. they fought, Jiyong helped me escape and he just saved my life a while ago as well. He’s here in the hospital, too. He’s been shot.”
There was a weird look in Seunghyun’s face that she could not figure out.
“I’m so scared. . .” she whispered. With that being said, his face softened and Dara felt her heart falter again.
“Come here,” he said, pulling her closer to him. “It’s alright, I’m here now.”
“What happened to you, by the way?”
“I wanted to chase after you but I was too weak so I called the others and help arrived right on time. The police were here a while ago as well, questioning me.”
Dara gasped and pulled away. “What did they ask?”
“Nothing you need to worry about,” he said.
“You. . . you didn’t tell them it was Jiyong who shot you, right?”
“No, I didn’t. . . it will only lead to several more questions,” he said. “Now come here and enough with these questions. We can do this later. I just want to hug you right now as I’ve missed you so much.”
“Just one last question,” she said.
“Hmm?”
“Are you feeling okay?” she asked.
“I am now that you’re here.”
Dara laughed. “That is so cheesy, oppa.”
“One more,” she said. “How were you able to get a suite like this?”
“Dongwook did, for me.”
“Oh!”
“I love you,” he whispered in that alluring deep voice of his that she just closed her eyes when he started closing the distance between them.
A soft sigh of contentment escaped her lips the moment his touched hers. She scooted closer to him to further press on his. She just missed him so much and he’s just so handsome that she was willing to go all the way with him. But then again, doing it in a hospital bed wasn’t that appealing to her so she just revered to the intense make out session they were having.
The need of air broke them apart and she felt herself panting really hard, as if she ran a marathon. He was panting as well which made her feel good and she couldn’t help but bit her lower lip upon seeing his swollen but luscious lips.
With a soft moan, she initiated the kiss this time.
She was cuddled in his arms when she woke up. She can’t help but smile upon remembering how both of them could not get enough of kissing each other. A soft kiss on her head made her smile wider. She looked up at him and she almost died from heart attack from his gorgeousness with his hair in tangles. “Hey,” she smiled at him.
“Hey you,” he chuckled. “Teddy and the others were here by the way and they left you a sandwich.”
“Oh!” she murmured. “Why didn’t you wake me up?”
“You looked so tired so we let you sleep.”
She smiled. Seunghyun was always the thoughtful one. “Thanks,” she said and reached up to give him a quick peck on the lips. She then sat up and grabbed the sandwich from the bedside table. “Oh, it’s dark already,” she noticed as she munched on her sandwich. “What time is it already?”
“Eight,” Seunghyun answered.
“Oh screw it!” she suddenly exclaimed. “I’ve forgotten about Jiyong! Oh screw it! And we’re supposed to be hiding!”
She ran off at once and went to ask where Jiyong’s room was.
“You’re Sandara Park!” the nurse said.
“No, I’m not!” she gritted. “Where is Choi Jiyong’s room?” she asked. She changed his name a while ago as well.
“He’s in the general ward, bed 7. But you –”
“My name is Choi Minu and I am Choi Jiyong’s wife. I would never dream to be in Sandara Park’s shoes right now.”
Dara ran off. “He is so going to be pissed at me,” she murmured. Upon reaching her destination, where the beds were separated by mere curtains, she started looking for bed number seven. Finding the bed she was looking for, she suddenly felt fear upon seeing the bed empty with tubes hanging uselessly on their stands. Where’d he go?
She turned around and was about to look for him when he bumped into someone’s chest. She was about to say sorry when she inhaled his familiar natural scent. Looking up, she saw Jiyong’s face frowning down at her.
“Where have you been?” they both demanded at the same time.
“I should be the one asking you that,” Jiyong then said, raising his brows at her.
“I was. . .” Dara started but for some reason, she hesitated. She bit her lower lip as Jiyong just stood there, still in his hospital gown but looking every inch the bad boy that he is with his brows raised at her. “I was with Seunghyun,” she then finished.
There was a pause. “Seunghyun?”
“Yes!” she said. “He’s here as well! He’s in a suite that Dongwook –”
“Oh, darn it!” he hissed and grabbed my hand. “What room is he?”
“407,” she said. “Where are we going?”
“Room 407.”
“Wait,” she said, attempting to stop him. “You’re not going to do anything –?”
“You ask too many questions!” he snapped.
They reached room 407 and Jiyong went in without knocking when he suddenly stopped. Dongwook was in the room, chatting with Seunghyun. They both paused and looked up at us. In a blink, Dongwook was suddenly on his feet and pointed a gun at Jiyong in the forehead with a silencer device..
“NO!” I intervened at once, placing myself between Jiyong and Dongwook. “Dongwook, he’s not a bad guy! He helped me escape.”
“Sorry, nothing personal,” Dongwook said making Dara’s eyes widened. She suddenly felt being shoved aside, but not too roughly by Jiyong. before Dongwook could even pull the trigger, Jiyong moved so quickly that it looked like a blur and in a matter of seconds, he was able to steal the gun from the guy. Without even hesitating just for a second, Jiyong pulled the trigger pointed at Dongwook’s forehead.
Dara flinched as Dongwook’s body fell lifelessly to the floor. She wanted to scream but it seemed that she was just too shock to do so. “What. . . what did you do?” she whispered in shock.
“He’s a double agent,” Jiyong said. “He was the one who told us where you were hiding. Where’s my bag?” Jiyong then turned to face her.
But Dara was not able to answer as she was just too overwhelmed with everything. She’d seen all side of Jiyong already, she’d watch him shoot Seunghyun but it was the first time she’d seen him really kill a person she knew.
When Jiyong saw his bag at one corner, he took opened it and pulled out his spare clothes. He then glanced at Seunghyun. “You,” he nodded towards him. “Did you inform Dongwook Dara’s here?”
“Yes,” he answered. “I didn’t know he was –”
“You better get dressed then,” Jiyong cut off. “Sooner or later, Minwoo will be here.”
The name snapped Dara back to reality. “M-minwoo?”
Seunghyun saw the genuine fear in her eyes that was absent when she’s looking at Jiyong. he could tell Dara was not afraid of Jiyong but she was afraid of Minwoo. Jiyong must have done something to somehow gain her trust. But then again, he remembered that Dara was never really afraid of Jiyong, even before even if the latter kept on bullying her to no ends.
With his back on Dara, he quickly got dressed but he kept his other senses opened.
“Ya!” she heard Dara growled. “Can you at least turn back when you’re undressing?”
Seunghyun frowned and looked back at Dara but she was glaring at Jiyong who was openly dressing in front of her.
“Well, why don’t you look away?”
“Jerk!” she hissed.
“And you’ve seen everything, right?”
“What?” I asked, facing them.
Dara stood up and went to my side. “It’s his fault!” she said in a tone that made him remember how she used to be like this when they were young everytime Jiyong bullies her. “He tricked me but I swear, it was an accident!”
“The fact remains that you’ve already seen everything,” Jiyong said, already done dressing up. He went towards the door and stepped out.
“If he offends you like that again. . .” Seunghyun darkly said as he pulled a shirt on.
“He –”
“Through the window!” Jiyong suddenly said, coming back. “He’s here.”
“Oh my God!” Dara exclaimed. Seeing the genuine fear in her eyes, Seunghyun grabbed her hand and squeezed to assure her that nothing’s going to happen to her as long as he’s there.
Seunghyun came through the window first followed by Dara then Jiyong.
“I don’t think I can do this,” Dara whispered.
“Yes, you can,” Seunghyun said. “Just hold on to me.”
Dara wasn’t really sure how she landed on firm ground in whole but she did. “Where are we going now?”
“Well, my uncle seemed to know all the places I know as well,” Jiyong said.
“I know a place,” Seunghyun said.
Jiyong snorted. “Make sure none of your friends knows that place as well,” he said. “There might be a traitor –”
“None of my friends are traitor,” Seunghyun hissed.
“Dongwook was very friendly, wasn’t he?”
“He wasn’t my friend!”
“Oh yeah?” Jiyong smirked. “I could –”
“Guys!” Dara intervened. “Can we just sort this out? I don’t like being in the open like this.”
In the end, they agreed to go to the place Seunghyun knew. Well, Jiyong was forced to agree, anyways.
“But we’ll be needing a car to get there,” Seunghyun said.
“Let’s take a cab,” Dara suggested.
“No, it’s too risky,” Jiyong said as they were now walking a few meters away from the hospital. When Jiyong saw an alley, he pushed the two of them together there. “Stay here.”
“Where are you going?” Dara asked but Jiyong was already running away.
After a few minutes, a car stopped along the road. The window lowered down. “Get in!” Jiyong shouted. Seunghyun and Dara glanced at each other first before running to the car.
“Where did you get this car?” Dara asked.
“I stole it,” Jiyong said as he started driving away.
“You stole it?!”
“Well, do you have any better suggestions?”
“I’d really appreciate it if you stop talking to her so rudely like that,” Seunghyun snapped.
“Well, I’m the bad guy here, aren’t I?”
“Jiyong. . .”
“Dara, let him be.”
“Where to?” Jiyong asked.
As Seunghyun gave directions, Dara watched Jiyong’s face through the mirror and she saw him grimaced every now and then. She thought he was just annoyed with Seunghyun but then, when she saw pain flashed across his face, she then realized that his wounds haven’t healed yet.
“Let me drive,” Dara suddenly said.
Jiyong looked through the rearview mirror. “I can manage.”
“No,” she said. “I’ve seen your face. Your wounds are fresh so you should rest and don’t be stubborn Kwon Jiyong! Just pull over.”
“Yeah Kwon, let the lady drive or better yet, let me drive.”
“Guys!” Dara snapped. “Please, cut it off, will you? Both of you are injured and I do know how to drive – it would be impractical if one of you will drive. Jiyong, move here so you can lie down. Seunghyun, moved to the passenger side.”
“If I didn’t know better,” Jiyong grimaced as he pulled over. “You’re just making my wounds as your excuse to go all lovey-dovey –”
“Jiyong!”
As they exchanged seats, Dara glanced at the mirror to look at Jiyong. He had his eyes closed. She then glanced at Seunghyun and held hands with him with her free hand. “You should sleep.”
“No,” Seunghyun said. “I prefer watching your face.”
Dara chuckled. “Oppa, you’re such a smooth talker!”
“No, I’m not. I’m simply telling the truth,” he said. “Hmm, I like hearing you call me oppa.”
Dara blushed and her eyes trailed to the mirror again. Jiyong still had his eyes closed and she wasn’t really sure if he’s sleeping or pretending to be asleep. For some reason, she was grateful he had his eyes closed. She’d rather not see his eyes right now.
And she didn’t know why that is.
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